Tapas party part 2

Patatas Bravas in two parts

Forgetting to take a photograph of something edible when you have a food blog is tantamount to criminal and highly stupid. I did remember to take a photo of the separate parts, however and so we have a sort of running picture documentary rather than the actual finished dish.

For the sauce I reduced a tin of plum tomatoes down in a pan over fairly high heat until thick and added a spoonful of the sauce I used on my breakfast tortilla (scroll down to bottom of post) the day before.

Neil came back from the shop with a bag of the smallest potatoes I've seen in a while. Each one smaller than a Brussels sprout, they were sweet and tender, not dissimilar to the Jersey Royal new potatoes we get in Britain around Spring, revered for their earthy, mineral sweet taste but detested for the high prices they demand: "Oooh, Jerseys are 1 pound for a pound again"! is the common cry of the average potato loving public, yet we still buy them, the cheeky little blighters.

The cute little nuggets were cut in half and roasted for 45 minutes at 375oF with a good drizzle of oil and lots of salt and pepper. When they were soft and fluffy inside and brown and crispy out, I tossed them while still hot into the sauce.

Incredibly beautiful salmon

If anyone reads this blog regularly, they will know I have an uncontrollable penchant for beautiful food. In the Summer this takes on ridiculous proportions as I come home from farmer's markets laden with tri coloured peppers, misshapen into strange, mysterious shapes and ten different kinds of tomatoes, just because they represent a rainbow of colours. This salmon had such a beautiful colour from the beet, I bought it at Christmastime, freezing the packet until now. Actually I had already bought one, but the graduation of colour on this one was prettier, so I bought two.

Piled on top of a cracker with a good dollop of Philadelphia cream cheese and some capers. Easy.

Another photo of the crayfish, just because. Imagine a miniature lobster with the only edible flesh in the very small tail. The claws were huge on some of these, but getting the flesh out was just too much of a chore. The next day I cracked them all open myself and warmed them in the microwave with some saffron and Pernod butter poured on top. I'd suggest a lobster instead, unless you really enjoy playing with your dinner.

Mini beef Wellingtons. Not my creation I'm sorry to say, but bought from the local supermarket. Probably the highlight of the whole dinner, (let's face it, the bought stuff usually is).

Sherried Mushrooms

Crimini or Chestnut mushrooms, halved or quartered and sauteed in 1 tsp olive oil and 1/2 tbsp butter for several minutes until softened, 1/4 cup sherry added and cooked for a further 10 minutes to mellow and sweeten. I also added a few pinches of salt to heighten the sweetness. A tapas pre-requisite.

The end of the evening. All plates and bowls carefully stacked in the dishwasher, surfaces wiped down, table cleared. Time to relax with each other's company, take out the vinyls and keep the glasses filled.